to ask how you make a chicken last the week without poisoning the entire family

[Chasdingle]

Ok the legendary mn chicken that will feed a family for the week. Last night we had a roast chicken and i've got some bits of chicken left over in the fridge that usually DP would use for sandwiches the next day but he was off today. I could use these in a stir fry or curry or soup but i'm alway abit scared as hear horror stories about reheating chicken- what are the actual 'rules' on reheating chicken so i don't poison the family

[Deckmyballs]

I've often wondered the same so watching with interest!

[Lonecatwithkitten]

You need to get it above 70degrees then it will be fine.

[mousmous]

freezer.
we usually buy a large chicken fo the 4 of us and eat about half of it. we then pick it clean and use the rest of the meat either in a stir fry or a pasta bake or similar.

depending on how much is left we freeze one or twoportions and use when required.

[Chasdingle]

so is this right (bear with me i'm good at maths but thick at cooking!!)

i cook a chicken

the spare bits of meat i cut off and stick in fridge

i can stir fry these previously cooked bits as long as i make sure they get 'hot hot' to 70 degrees and not just reheated.

in a soup as long as they have a good boil in boiling stock they should be fine?

[Chasdingle]

pls bear in mind i will sue you if i die :)

[Waltonswatcher1]

But surely you use leftover meat up within 24 hrs ?
I always thought so anyway but we rarely eat meat so what do I know !

[Back2Basics]

It's 85' degrees you need to reheat it by, and don't leave it out to long.

Or don't bother and just use it for sandwiches I am a caterer and a brilliant cook and I can't work out how people like stringy used again chicken.

Chicken curry reheated is lovely but a roast chicken turned into a curry is not.

[Marrow]

Cooked chicken will keep safely for up to four days in the fridge. If reheating make sure that you only do it once and that it is piping hot.

[mousmous]

I keep to the 24 hour rule as well. hence freezing leftovers right away.

[Back2Basics]

And it's only three days you should keep it for. Don't use a week old cooked chicken you will get sick.

[Mrswellyboot]

I make a curry the same day and freeze. No way would I eat meat left hanging around

[pigsDOfly]

How big are these magic chickens? There's just me and a small dog. A chicken certainly wouldn't last us a week. In fact if it's a small chicken we only get a couple of meals each out of it.

[puntasticusername]

No no no. Ignore all this eminently sensible stuff about curry and pasta bake etc.

What you do, is you get a magic pot, right. And you stick the chicken in it. Then whenever you want chicken, you go "cook, little pot, cook".

And then when you don't want any more chicken, you just go "stop, little pot, stop".

ONLY YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST NOT FORGET THE STOP WORDS.

I really don't know why people go on endlessly about this chicken business, when all you actually need is a magic pot!

Hic

Also - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Porridge.

[Nocomet]

Roast chicken will make curry, 3-4 days after it's cooked, curry happily keeps another three days

[BaldHedgehog]

Chicken must be a turkey size or a bodybuilder.

[tokentotty]

Pick it clean, chop the bits up, bung in a freezer bag, freeze it in portions and then grab out to pop into emergency dishes (good old cook in sauces etc) and you have a dinner made in the time it takes to heat up the sauce when time is of the essence...

[Permanentlyexhausted]

You cook a chicken.

The leftover bits will be fine in the fridge for a couple of days, regardless of whether you cook them again or not (i.e. you can eat them cold in a sandwich or whatever). They'll also be fine used in another cooked dish.

If you don't want to use the leftovers within the next couple of days, freeze them to use at a later date. If you use them to create another cooked dish, that can also be frozen after cooking.

Boil up the carcass to make chicken stock for use in soups. Yep, you guessed it, that can also be frozen too.

[TheEmpress]

Freeze the cooked chicken in portions.

Heating will kill the bacteria, but won't remove the toxins released by the bacteria...

[ceeveebee]

I usually make chicken and mushroom risotto with the leftovers, or a chicken pie.

Or I sometimes joint the chicken into 8 pieces, then do either piri piri chicken or coq ou vin on day one, saving the breasts to cook the next day as something else.

[pigsDOfly]

Good heavens no Derek we share it equally I get the legs and pick round the bones, she gets the breasts.

[steff13]

I can make a whole chicken into a week's worth of meals, but it's not when the chicken is the main part of the meal, if you see what I mean. I'll pick it apart, and then use a cup or so of the meat in chicken and noodles or chicken and dumplings, then the next day I'll use another cup or so in torilla soup, etc. After I pick it apart, I usually put enough for one meal in the fridge, then put the rest in the freezer, and take it out as I need it. That way we're not wasting it, but we're not eating chicken ever night, either. I get tired of chicken.

[Chasdingle]

thanks for the comment tho not sure how much more enlightened i am :) Think i need more specific rules (i have a maths not creative brain)

As an example say i get the chicken from yesterday out from fridge tomorrow and make a chicken and veg soup, so bring chicken and veg to the boil- we eat some of the chicken and veg soup for lunch but some is left. if it put this back in fridge can i reheat it as long as i get it above 85 degrees (and if i can how many times can i do this?)